Washington 3rd Congressional District Nominating Convention - Napavine, WA
Chaired by State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz
Speaking for Brian Baird: Paul Berendt
Cheryl Crist, Speaking for herself.
I needed to post this, to explain why I’m going to Napavine tomorrow morning, to vote for Cheryl Crist, who is challenging sitting incumbent Brian Baird for the party nomination to run for the 3rd Congressional District seat in the U.S. Congress. It is not an easy explanation for me to make.
I dissolved any ties I had (albeit loose ones) with the Washington State Republicans back in the late 1980s. An Evangelical Christian faction had basically taken over the party, and I could not stomach seeing the likes of the people who were rising to become leadership in the Legislature. I was revolted and turned off by them, in comparison to the Libertarian ideals which had drawn me, along with the cushy patronage jobs I kept secured by illegally campaigning for the state Republican Party. The illegal campaigning was all been done with orders from my boss in the House Republican Caucus Communications office, Leslie MacMillan, and the blessings of the House R Caucus Executive, and “sin industry” lobbyist Vito Chiechi, under the direction of none other than Jennifer Dunn, who later became one of our U.S. Senators. “Both sides do it, it’s okay, we’ll protect your jobs, just fill out these sick-day forms, and we’ll turn them in if the other side asks us why you’re missing” is what we were all told. From this experience, I feel I learned a lot about how people cut corners to get ahead, and why they should never do that when it comes to politics and their responsibilities in the public arena.
Alas, I’m older now, (and much more principled, I think) and feel I have to do something now to change the direction in which our country is headed. I was against the War in 2003, and I’m even more against it now. In fact, I’m against using war, weapons, and violence as a means to solve any economic, social or political disagreement, and I vow never to participate in such foolishness, but instead to help those who may be hurt in our community by such actions. (To some, this is a subversive statement, go figure.)
So tomorrow I travel to Napavine, to cast my vote as Precinct Committee Officer for my district as the Democrats try to re-assert control over who runs on their party ticket following repeated findings by courts that the primary process in Washington is unconstitutional. I will vote for Cheryl Crist. I don’t do it with glee, as I like Brian Baird well enough, I’ve communicated with him, and given advice on Telecommunications issues that affect consumers, and overall he’s done a decent job. However, he abdicated his responsibility as a Congressman under the constitution to declare war, and instead gave president Bush a blank check, and more war powers to the Presidency. He still feels we need to stay in Iraq, and that is too troubling to me to not do something to remove him from office.
Tags: olympia, washington, baird, congress, democrats, caucus, nomination, crist, peace, anti-war, republicans
You can never be sure, you can never fully trust the people you hire to govern, or the people to be governed. What do you do? I’ve decided this year to believe. To believe that our country can be healed. I’ve decided to come off the fence, and declare my support for Barack Obama
Please click on the image above, to see a bit more about why I’ve chosen to believe, against reasonable hope, perhaps, that our country can be united, and people can start to believe in the precepts of tolerance, welcoming immigrants of all nations, faiths, and ethnicities, and strong funded public education.
“The ‘we’ we’ve been waiting for to come and fix our problems is us!” It’s time to take back control of this country, and put the scoundrels who have damaged our country into jail where they belong!
If you live in Washington, please attend your caucus today!
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Tags: barack, obama, barack obama, olympia, washington, caucus, democrat, election, president, presidential election
Here are some audio highlights from last night’s (November 11th, 2007) Community Forum on the Police Response to Port Protesters, called by T.J. Johnson, and held at City Hall, recorded by yours truly.
T.J. Johnson Pre-Opening Remarks:
Robert Whitlock’s Testimony:
Drew Hendrick’s Testimony:
Gus Kroll’s Testimony:
Daisy Montague’s Testimony:
Noah - Testimony on Police Gay Bashing:
Unknown - Trauma - Plum Street Blockade Assault:
Unknown - Nuremburg - Assaulted by Police:
Unknown - Panel Testimony:
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Tags: olympia, washington, port, port of olympia, port protest, police brutality, fascism, rob whitlock, robert whitlock, drew hendricks, Gus Kroll, Daisy Montague, T.J. Johnson, TJ Johnson, Olympia City Council, Impeachment, illegal war, anti-war, non-violence, police violence, police riot
While checking out media feeds with Flock 1.0 RC3 I noticed a friend of mine’s flickr feed had been splooged on by Viagra Spammers. I assume he needs to change his-mail to flickr address, to stop the flow.
Also, another friend of mine sent me a myspace message (it turned out her account had been hijacked), with a “Free Macy’s Giftcard” message, which was a photo-ad-link to a survey site, where, assumedly, someone was getting ad referral money for the link.
This morning, (after heading out on the town to celebrate Halloween with Dingo in a costume contest at a notorious 
local gay bar), I got an SMS that said I’d won a free professional quality portable WAV/MP3 stereo recorder device. (An Edirol R-09 24 Bit Wave 24 Bit MP3 Recorder - see below) from Foneshow, as part of a promotion regarding their public beta announcement at Podcamp Boston. Since I had registered on their site the night before, I knew the drawing was for real, thanks to Bowl of Cheese for the tip about Foneshow through his twitter announcement!
This little device will come in handy with my work on the Clubside Breakfast Time Podcast, as well as enable me to expand the type and number of Podcasts I produce, including possibly reviving the good-intentioned, but completely neglected Olympia Legislative Watch.
These topics may seem unrelated, but as I thought about the universal connectedness of all things, I realized they weren’t. Buddhist (and other eastern philosophies) have always suggested that material goods can not bring happiness, and more often bring only suffering and pain. I’ve often found this to be true. . . . Prizes often come with booby traps (personal, no marketing slam against the nice folks at Foneshow, thanks again!), sometimes they spring long after the prize has come. . . .
Life comes with pitfalls, this is a truism that cannot be debated, nor proven scientifically. But no matter what, you have to climb up out of the hole and on toward the goal, so I try to keep the goal in site. Heinlein stated it best; “In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.” . . . (this quote is attributed to Heinlein, who’s philosophy of humanism and “good-naturedness” in his books
So, I don’t know the answer to this question, other than “the universal law of Love” reigns as we enter the age of aquarius. Sorry if that’s cryptic and meaningless, but I question now, more than ever, my understanding of things around me.
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The Barack Obama supporters will be having their first local meeting at Evergreen tomorrow (March 11th) at 4PM in the TESC Library building, Room 4300.
I’ll be there to see if the “history in the making” is “Gary Hart” history, or “John Kennedy” history. I have to admit I’m intrigued by Obama, and think that someone with little beltway experience might be just what’s needed in our country right now.
Cosmo
technorati tags:barackobama, Barack Obama, evergreen, Thurston County, March 11, 2007, obama2008, event, poster
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Clubside Podcast
